Not Okay is about a young woman who is desperate for friends and fame which leads her to take a trip to Paris to update her social media presence. Soon a petrifying incident takes place in the real world and becomes a part of the imaginary trip she took to Paris and offers all she wants.
The film Not Okay satirizes the ways people as a social platform for inauthentic voices even as we downplay the real, lived traumas of marginalized people.
Not Okay was released on Hulu on July 29, 2022.
The film comes under the genre of dark comedy created by writer-director Quinn Shephard who is known for her Independent Spirit Award-winning debut feature Blame. The following is an interview of Shephard about her inspiration behind Not Okay, the casting of social media influencer Caroline Calloway, collaborating with lead actor and producer Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien’s makeover, and more.
Interviewer: Not okay is a superb tackle influencer culture. What inspiration behind the making of this film?
Quinn Shepherd: I came up with the concept four years ago. That’s once I wrote the primary draft of the screenplay. It came to me out of nowhere, I’m pretty sure I was in the shower at that time. I used to be in this place researching internet culture for several different projects. I have even watched YouTube documentaries and skim articles by The Cut about abandonment culture. This came to me as a present from the net, just a bizarre mashup of realities I witnessed.
It was the height of Trump America and we restrained such a lot of political unrest and violence. Still, I used to on my phone daily reading gossip and celebrity influencer stories. this stuff co-existed and had an identical amount of media coverage. It felt like capturing this mashup to speak about the web and film. That’s where the concept for Danni’s predicament came from, I mixed the horrors of today’s reality with self-love.
Interviewer: It’s such a difficult thing when it involves internet culture because life is nothing but a series of choices, and it appears like famous people can’t make bad choices, but the remainder of people can. It’s just a distinct standard as you said.
Shepherd: Yes. I also think Caroline represents exactly who Danni wants to be. Danni’s dream is to be an influencer-author hybrid in the big apple. It’s perfect. it was the proper comparison.
Interviewer: You mentioned working with Zoey once you approached Caroline. are you able to tell something about their role within the production process?
Shepherd: Yes, so Zoey is an EP for the film. She is unquestionably a hands-on and collaborative actress and producer. She’s gorgeous. We’d strategize on FaceTime, like bear the schedule together, speak about cameos, and she’s been coldly DMing people for cameos. it had been fantastic.
She had really strong opinions that were much in line with mine when it came to wardrobe and everyone the creative choices. I always knew that if I were few and much between and doing 1,000,000 things, she would take a look at every single detail that goes into decisions like Danni’s phone case and wardrobe. it was our two eyes on everything.
Interviewer: That’s incredible. Did you see the reviewer who tweeted about those Pete Davidsonification of Dylan O’Brien?
Shepherd: I saw that quote. I used to be obsessive about it.
Interviewer: I’d like to hear more about how the remainder of the cast came together, particularly Dylan O’Brien and Mia Isaac.
Shepherd: Mia is amazing. We found her through an audition tape and she or he had just shot do not let me go. She was in New Zealand when she did her audition. She was exactly how I imagined the character to be. She may be a phenomenal actress. it was so powerful. And Dylan was very down Pete Davidsonified. He loves full research immersion. He’s an awfully serious actor, but he also wants to possess a decent time.
When we first met, he had already started researching influencer culture and hype house types additionally as TikTokers and YouTubers. He was adventurous in how he wanted to portray the character. I immediately thought, “Can we dye your hair?” and he agreed. To be honest, he had the identical idea. We texted and sent one another photos after our first Zoom. I sent him photos of Pete Davidson, MGK, and Justin Bieber and he replied, “Yes! That’s exactly what I would like to try to do.”
Interviewer: What was your biggest risk in making this film?
Shepherd: The topic alone was nerve-wracking because I used to be trying to speak about two incredibly explosive things. As I’m and in my perspective as a reasonably privileged young Caucasian, I feel I had a specific responsibility to critically evaluate and use the items I could see in myself and therefore the people around me as my platform to speak about but not tiptoe and speak up for things I shouldn’t be talking about. I used to be nervous.
I often thought, “Am I visiting to be fired for this film?” I would like to be a provocative filmmaker, and I think it’s really important to speak about tough issues. But I kept asking people for feedback on the script, I worked with a trauma counselor, and I talked to lots of individuals because I didn’t want to misdirect these issues.
Interviewer: What does one want the audience to require away? Not okay?
Shepherd: I would love for the film to channel a message of both empathy and self-reflection. I feel there’s a desire for a concrete answer to the culture of abandonment and whether it’s right or wrong.
I don’t think public shaming is necessarily the answer. But you too must be held in command of your actions. I just hope people remove, especially from the ending, that listening and puzzling over yourself and trying to be a higher person is perhaps the sole good thing to try and do when you’re making mistakes.
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